Andy Baston admits RGC need to find their physical edge if they are to compete against the sides at the top end of the Championship.

The North Wales side are back in action this weekend as they make the trip to Tondu looking for a third win out of three on the road, following victories at Narberth and Blackwood.

However, it is at home where RGC are still looking for their first victory after going down to a third straight loss at Parc Eirias last Saturday as they crashed 26-20 at the hands of Pontypool.

After the match, assistant coach Damian McGrath admitted another slow start by his side had rightly seen them slip two scores behind, and Baston feels he and his team-mates must find a way to start quicker if they are to match the top sides in this division.

“First half (against Pontypool) we didn’t really show up too well,” said the hooker.

“We kind of let them dictate the physicality of the game and didn’t really take it to them like we did last week against Blackwood.

“We let ourselves down and didn’t take our opportunities when we created them.

“There were missed passes thrown – we were not all there in the contact area either.

“But I am massively pleased with the last quarter of an hour the guys have shown. We showed adventure and the back line looked brilliant on the counter-attack and showed their skills, so I think there are positives from that game, but we are still pretty gutted.”

Asked as to why RGC are starting slowing in their game at home, Baston added: “I don’t know, it is just one of those things. I suppose it is the million dollar question, and we are going to have find the answer to it in training this week as to what we are doing wrong.

“We will look at the video and assess what we are doing wrong and look to put it right against Tondu on Saturday.

“We know what we are capable of in this league and we don’t doubt our ability – we just need to put it out on the field.”

“Hopefully we will get a good few training sessions in this week and take it forward to Tondu on the weekend.”

Against Ponty, RGC were certainly not helped by what was described by the coaching team as “inconsistent officiating” – referee Martyn Lewis bearing the brunt of ire from the many connected with the North Wales region.

However, Baston elected to remain diplomatic when asked about the referee’s performance, and refused to use it as any kind of an excuse for the defeat.

He added: “I don’t want to slag off or have a go at an official, but there were some very dubious calls.

“But you can’t use that as an excuse, and at the end of the day he is here to referee the game and if he wasn’t here then we couldn’t have a game.

“But there were some very questionable calls that certainly killed our momentum during the game, especially in the last 15 minutes.”

He continued: “Everyone is a bit down, we’re all gutted, we wanted to get that home win for the fans.

“The fans have been brilliant again, they really were. They were so vocal and we really wanted to get that home win for the fans.

“We put so much into the game and still didn’t get the win so everyone is a bit gutted in there, very deflated.

“The attitude the guys showed in the last 20 minutes was outstanding. It wasn’t one out rugby, it was adventurous stuff, so there are definitely positives.

“Pontypool are a well established club in this league, they have a massive history, so to perform this well against them but be so gutted that we lost shows how far we have come, and what we expect of ourselves.”